1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an operational simulating model, and more particularly, to an operational model for simulating manufacturing flow and a simulating method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor foundries and TFT-LCD foundries are complex manufacturing environments. Each product has to undergo tens to hundreds of different processes. The manufacturing equipments include each kind of process equipments, material transfer equipments, and storage equipments. Therefore, the types, amounts, position and motion flow have enormous influence on the manufacturing flow.
In the past, the semiconductor foundries and TFT-LCD foundries arranged the manufacturing flow in accordance with the specifications provided by the equipment vendors or in accordance with previous experiences. When the equipment is insufficient after being set up, the overall arrangement should be rearranged and sometimes more equipment is required. The prior art method not only makes optimization difficult, but also requires large amounts of time and money.
In addition, when the product is changed, the overall arrangement has to be readjusted. The method of prior art alteration is similar to building a new foundry in accordance with the specification provided by the equipment vendors or the previous experiences. There might be a shortage of equipments, or some equipments might be left unused. Rearrangement and readjustment are both costly and time consuming.
Therefore before building a new operational line or changing a manufacturing flow, it is compulsory to perform a simulation to reduce risks and expense. So far, equipment vendors have been performing manufacturing flow simulations for their own products. Some foundry simulation software has turned up in the market for manufacturing flow simulations to gain the best throughput layout. Nevertheless this type of simulating model cannot work out in accordance with a certain operational flow or a certain running strategy, i.e. the simulating model cannot perform in accordance with a specific requirement. Consequently, the model will not fit the requirements of foundry-building (ex: 12-inch wafer foundries) layouts in the future.